Warm Summer Rain
by Mikki13
Summary: Two children discover the wonder of Warm Summer Rain.


DISCLAIMER: You know the drill. They belong to Joss . . . yada yada  
  
yada . . . I would never think of claiming them as my own . . . yada  
  
yada yada . . . and so on and so forth. A/N: This story was written during the summer of 2001. And please note: Don't bother flaming, because you will be ignored.  
  
Warm Summer Rain  
  
PART ONE  
  
"Ready or not, here I come!" The little boy called out,  
  
taking his hands off from over his eyes. He immediately began  
  
checking out the area, determined to find his friends. It wasn't  
  
often that he was `it.' He could run faster than Jesse, and  
  
especially Willow, any day. But his buddies had tricked him this  
  
time - made him think the game was over - and he'd be Santa's elf if  
  
he'd let them win again. Still, after a couple minutes of searching,  
  
he had to admit that they were good. And he was getting  
  
impatient. "Where are you guys?" He called out, looking behind a  
  
bush, and then up a tree. He had thought that it would be a good  
  
idea to play "Hide and Seek" in Jesse's huge front yard, but now he  
  
wasn't so sure. *Too many places to hide. It isn't good for us.*  
  
Finally, however, the suspense proved too much for his eight-year old  
  
pals, and the little boy distinctly heard two giggles coming from  
  
underneath Jesse's rosebush. "A-ha!" he cried, charging for the  
  
bush. "I knew I'd find you!" With that, he rolled underneath the  
  
bush, and placed a hand on each of his friends arms. "You're  
  
both `it!'" he informed them cheerfully.  
  
"No fair!" Jesse cried, a grin plastered to his face. "You  
  
took too long!"  
  
"It isn't my fault your yard is so big." The little boy  
  
turned to the little girl. "Tell him, Willow!"  
  
"Uh . . . well . . ." the little girl stammered. "Um . . .  
  
You DID find us."  
  
"See?" The little boy turned to Jesse. "Willow says it was  
  
fair and square."  
  
"No, she didn't"  
  
"Yes, she did."  
  
"No, she didn't."  
  
"You're just mad `cause I always win!"  
  
"Come on, you guys," Willow tried, intent on stopping the  
  
argument. She didn't like fighting. "I don't wanna play anymore,  
  
anyway."  
  
Jesse opened his mouth to reply, but just then his mother  
  
came onto the porch. "Jesse!" She called. "Jesse, it's time to  
  
come in now, honey!"  
  
Jesse groaned. "Ahhh, man! Do I hafta, Mom?!"  
  
His mother laughed. "I'm afraid so, dear. It's time for  
  
dinner. Tell your friends good-bye."  
  
Jesse turned to his pals. "Okay, guys . . . I'll see you  
  
tomorrow, right?"  
  
The little boy grinned. "Of course. It's summer vacation,"  
  
he replied happily, relishing the thought. He really didn't like  
  
school.  
  
"Cool," Jesse replied. He rolled out from underneath the  
  
rosebush, and headed inside.  
  
The little boy turned to his redheaded best bud. "Hey,  
  
Willow, you wanna come to my house? We could play Nintendo."  
  
Willow nodded. "Okay," she replied.  
  
The two rolled out from underneath the rosebush, and headed  
  
toward the little boy's house. Half-way there, it began to rain.  
  
The little boy felt the first raindrop as it cascaded down his cheek,  
  
and he raised his head to see if it really WAS raining during the  
  
summertime.  
  
"Hey, Willow, look!" he cried, pointing up to the sky. "It's  
  
RAINing!"  
  
Willow looked up at the sky. Sure enough, it WAS  
  
raining. "Wow," she breathed. "But . . . it's the summer."  
  
The little boy shrugged. "I guess the plants got thirsty or  
  
somethin' . . . Come on, let's go to the park instead!"  
  
"But . . . what about Nintendo?"  
  
The little boy looked at his pal as if she'd grown a second  
  
head. "We can't go inside when it's RAINing during the summertime!  
  
We hafta go play!"  
  
Willow shrugged. "Okay," she replied.  
  
They rounded the corner to the park, and the little boy  
  
immediately pulled his friend out to the field. "We can squash  
  
around in the grass," he informed her. "And then later we can play  
  
in the puddles."  
  
The little girl didn't really like playing in muddy fields,  
  
but she was happy to see her friend so excited. Following him out  
  
onto the field, something occurred to her. "Hey!" she  
  
exclaimed. "The rain is WARM!"  
  
The little boy hadn't thought about that before. "Cool!" he  
  
cried, his brown eyes crinkling up at the corners. "It's warm summer  
  
rain."  
  
Willow nodded. "That's pretty neat, `cause rain is usually  
  
cold and during the winter."  
  
"Come on!" the little boy called, running the rest of the way  
  
onto the field. He began to squash around on the wet grass.  
  
Willow stood back and watched, grinning at her best friend's  
  
ways. Sometimes she wished she could be more like him -- outgoing  
  
and playful, instead of shy and quiet. *But,* she told herself, *If I  
  
was more like him, then there would be two of him, and none of me.*  
  
In her eight-year old mind, this made perfect sense, and she came to  
  
the conclusion that it was better that there was two of them.  
  
Together. Forever. Willow grinned. Friends forever. That's what  
  
she had written in her diary. She and Xander would be friends  
  
forever . . . and someday, they would get married. If he said yes,  
  
anyway.  
  
  
  
It was still raining an hour and a half later when the friends  
  
decided to head home. The now incredibly muddy Xander was grinning  
  
widely, while the much cleaner Willow was incredibly contemplative.  
  
After a few moments, Xander realized how much his pal was not talking.  
  
"Earth to Willow," he said, cupping his hands around his  
  
mouth. "Come in, Wills!"  
  
Willow shook her head, coming back to reality. "Oh, sorry,"  
  
she replied, blushing.  
  
Xander grinned. "S'okay. What were you thinking about?"  
  
Willow's blush deepened. "Oh, um, uh, I was . . ."  
  
Suddenly, her expression turned into what at sixteen she would term  
  
her resolve face. "Xander," she said suddenly. "When we grow up,  
  
will you marry me?"  
  
It was Xander's turn to blush. Stopping in his tracks, he  
  
turned to look at her. "Wh-what?" he stammered.  
  
Willow looked down at her feet. "When we grow up, will you  
  
marry me?"  
  
"Oh, gee, Wills . . . do we really have to talk about this?"  
  
Though he had always thought he and Willow would get married, at  
  
eight it wasn't exactly something he wanted to talk about.  
  
Willow's face was now red as a tomato, and the warm summer  
  
rain that beat upon it made it even hotter. "Oh, sure," she replied,  
  
replacing the resolve face with the `I'm crushed' face. "I  
  
just . . . never mind." She began walking faster than before, trying  
  
to put some distance between herself and her best friend.  
  
Xander's heart took a nose-dive when he saw the hurt look on  
  
his Willow's face. "Aw, Wills," he replied, moving quickly to catch  
  
up with her. "I'm sorry." He reached out and grabbed her arm.  
  
Willow stopped walking, but couldn't bring herself to turn  
  
around. She didn't want Xander to see that she was crying.  
  
"Willow," Xander said softly. "Aw, Willow, please don't  
  
cry," he moved around so that he was facing her, and used his finger  
  
to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Willow . . .?"  
  
"Yes?" She whispered, still unable to look him in the eyes.  
  
He leaned down and pecked her on the cheek. "Of course we're  
  
gonna get married when we grow up. I just . . . I didn't want to  
  
talk about it s'all."  
  
Willow looked up at him hopefully. "Really?"  
  
Xander grinned what would one day be known as the official  
  
Xander grin. "O'course." He moved his arms around his best bud to  
  
give her a hug. "Okay?"  
  
Willow nodded, smiling happily. "Okay," she replied.  
  
"Good. Now come on. Let's go play Nintendo." 


End file.
